Moriarty stared at the obsidian gold dagger nearby and noticed that people on both sides of the road walked past him, one after the other. No one even looked at the dagger on the ground. It was unclear if they did not notice it or were too dismissive to see it.
Gulp! Gulp! That was the sound from his throat. Moriarty’s appetite drove him to go for the obsidian gold dagger. He opened his mouth and swallowed it. The Heaven-devouring Rat King had a unique talent—any food it consumed would become part of it. He let out a satisfied burp after he ate the weapon.
“That weapon has helped my damaged soul heal quite a bit. I will be able to recover or even get stronger if I eat another 100 comparable weapons.”
Moriarty’s platinum-colored eyes rolled in their sockets. He was not only thinking about repairing his shattered soul. He believed that if he lived in Monte Town for a few years, he could turn the Heaven-devouring Rat King’s body into the diamond tier. Monte Town was considerably wealthier than before, which made his desire swell.
Moriarty continued to hide and only rushed forward after looking around and locating the location of Monte Town’s City Hall.
He was curious as to why Monte Town had become so prosperous.
At the same time, at the city hall’s gate.
“Young Masters Zeke, Zenoah, and Peter, are you leaving already?”
Gerant, the mayor, was dressed to the nines. He glanced at the three men in front of him with trepidation. Gerant’s face was full of oil, and both of his cheeks had puffed up quite a bit after he had not seen them for ten days. He had obviously gained a lot of weight.
“Mayor Gerant, we have been bothering you in Monte Town for a long time. Furthermore, we have sold all of the supplies we brought from Blackmoon Castle. We must return and replenish them. What do you think?”
Zeke wore a mature grin on his face. Many officials in Monte Town were respectful of him after conducting business with him for so many days. He was starting to look more like an influential businessman.
“You are right, Young Master Zeke. Then I won’t stop you. I’ll send my guards to escort you out of the city.” Gerant nodded; he did not stop him.
The earth-shattering developments in Monte Town could not have happened without Blackmoon Castle, and he had tasted quite a bit of the sweetness. If Zeke wanted to leave, he did not dare to stand in his way. He would, on the contrary, deploy guards to protect him. He was terrified that something might happen to the Blackmoon Castle’s young masters; that might cause Blackmoon Castle to stop cooperating with them.
At that time, Blackmoon Castle produced 90% of the items in circulation in Monte Town. They had effectively monopolized the entire town’s business. The residents could not stop praising Blackmoon Castle because the things were of excellent quality and inexpensive. They were happy with Blackmoon Castle’s contribution of clearing out magical beasts during the winter.
Gerant did not want to do anything to stop that, nor could he do anything. Monte Town was ten times stronger than before, and that was part of his accomplishments too. He did not care who ruled Monte Town as long as it could grow stronger.
“Mayor Gerant, thank you for your good intentions. The rock golems can protect us. There will be no risk on the road. You may send us off here, Mayor. That’s all for now; we will talk again in the future.”
Zeke, Zenoah, and Peter turned around and left the city hall after they nodded at Gerant. There were more than ten manor owners behind them. They all waved to the officials, who sent them off happily. In that world, manor owners were individuals with a low status. They were hardly better than servants and could not be compared to the city hall’s noble officers.
However, they had a higher standing than others because they were the manor owners from Blackmoon Castle. They made the best decision in their lives when they allied with Blackmoon Castle. Each manor owner’s face was brimming with confidence as they entertained their own thoughts.
Geralt returned to the city hall after watching the manor owners and the three young masters of Blackmoon Castle leave. He went directly to the office on the top floor.
His office was light and airy; it had just been renovated. He noticed a large desk the moment he walked into the room. A supper plate sat beside the desk, and on it were two crimson Phoenix eggs that glowed with bright flames.
Gerant rubbed his hands together, eager to get to the desk. He peeled the Phoenix eggs with a knife and fork. He swallowed his spit as he saw the golden egg’s liquid trickle out. “Recently, Blackmoon Castle has shipped quite a number of Phoenix eggs. There are well over a hundred of them. Fortunately, as Mayor, I have amassed quite a bit of wealth, so I purchased ten of them! Five of them are for the Ptolemy family, three for emergencies. As for the other two—”
He was ready to taste them.
“What a beautiful color.”
Gerant’s eyes lit up as he scooped some of the golden egg liquid with a fork. Even though it was not cooked, the color and aroma were the most exquisite ingredients in the world. Just as he wanted to put the liquid into his mouth, a black shadow passed in front of him, and he realized his hand was empty, and the fork had vanished.
A palm-sized black rat stood on the desk in front of him. The crown emblem on its brow shone brightly, and it licked the liquid on the fork.
“D*mn rat! How dare you steal my Phoenix egg!”
Gerant’s rage was palpable. He had paid 2000 gold coins for the two Phoenix eggs. He did not want to share them even with his most trusted aides, so how could he let a common rat steal them?
In that regard, his office was on the top floor. Typically, a maid would clean it. Thus there should not be any rats. Perhaps the maid did not clean it well. He cursed the maid inwardly. Then, he raised his palm, preparing to smack the rodent on the table.
That rat had just swallowed the egg liquid of the Phoenix Egg, so it might not have digested it yet. If he killed it and made it into soup, he might be able to stop the damage. After all, he was a peak bronze-tier warrior. With his thick combat aura in his palm, it would be easy to kill a rat.
What startled him was that an invisible force froze his body before his hand fell on the rat. He laid on the table, and when the rat raised its head, an unmistakable platinum-tier aura radiated out from it. It made Gerant feel as if that was not a rat but a monster that could devour the world.
“You want to kill me?”
The mouse moved its mouth; it caused Gerant to widen his eyes. Did that rat speak in human language?
“Those two Phoenix eggs are quite tasty. I can’t kill you right now for the sake of those two eggs.” The rat placed the two Phoenix eggs, along with their shells, into its mouth. “But you must tell me why Monte Town has become like this.”
Gerant’s body trembled, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He did not care why the rat in front of him was so strong; he said hurriedly, “Well, some time ago…”
He described how Monte Town had become infested with rats and how Blackmoon Castle had sent personnel to rescue them, and they had brought a significant number of supplies with them. He did not hide anything.
‘It is a shame the Pen of Truth was lost in the fight. Otherwise, I would know if this person is telling the truth. He would not dare to lie to me.’ Moriarty was the rat. After a moment of thought, he said, “You mean, Blackmoon Castle has addressed the winter dilemma and established a connection with Monte Town, and they frequently conduct business here. How are the Blackmoon Castle residents doing right now?”
Moriarty was convinced that the previous youth was from Blackmoon Castle. He wanted Watson’s body. If he could find the Blackmoon Castle residents, he could sneak into the castle and accomplish his purpose.
He had intended to occupy Gerant’s body when Gerant finished speaking, but he suddenly had a better plan.
Gerant said, “The young masters from Blackmoon Castle have just left.”
“Which way? Take me there now and stop them.”
“As the Mayor of Monte Town, it’s inappropriate for me to leave so rashly. Moreover, I have no reason to stop them.”
“Just say that you want to visit Blackmoon Castle and establish a long-term cooperative relationship. You can find any excuse you want,” Moriarty sounded impatient.
“I just parted with the young masters, and now I’m going over…”
Bang!
Moriarty reached out a claw and swung it at the wall when he saw Gerant’s hesitation. The wall and the window above it broke with a muted sound. The wind blew into the big hole that stretched for nearly ten meters.
Gerant swallowed his saliva and stood there dazed as he stared at the horrible scene in front of him. He only snapped back to his senses when the maid outside asked, “Mayor Gerant, what’s happening inside?”
“I’m fine. Nothing happened. Don’t come in.”
Gerant took a step back and leaned against the office door. He said, “Rat, I mean, Sir, I can get over there right now. I will pack my belongings as soon as possible and dispatch someone to prepare the carriage. Is that all right?”
Moriarty nodded to indicate that it was okay.
Watson would never have guessed that he would dare to sneak into Blackmoon Castle. Even if he was no match for Watson, he could still threaten him with his family members. He could even take over the bodies of Watson’s family members. He could pretend to be his brothers and sisters, and he put up a fantastic show of them murdering each other.
Moriarty’s eyes turned harsh when he thought about that scene.
Gerant had also calculated the situation. Even though he had no idea what kind of feud a rat could speak the human language would have with Blackmoon Castle, he assumed the rat was a fish that had escaped the net when Blackmoon Castle killed all the other magical beasts. A little rat was nothing in comparison to the might of Blackmoon Castle.
Blackmoon Castle could fuse magical beasts, so the rat in front of him would likely cause no harm to Blackmoon Castle. It would most probably be fused into a pet; it was only a matter of time until it would walk into that trap. Gerant’s face was filled with sympathy as he stared at Moriarty for a brief moment.
